Common now ... there's at least 5 to 6 aero positions needing to be filled according to the website. From the looks of the descriptions these aren't even management positions ... these are the grunt work people who you need to get the job done. The W04 is being unveiled in a few weeks. Unless most or all those Aero positions are for the W05 ( and I highly doubt it) The fact that SO MANY aero positions are presently open is concerning .. and yes filling them now is a tad late. (Yes I am aware of better late than never).

These are not unreasonable concerns.. Mercedes is not known for good aero development and the recruitment drive to fix this really does appear to be late. Especially if well qualified personnel are hard to find.

Common now ... there's at least 5 to 6 aero positions needing to be filled according to the website. From the looks of the descriptions these aren't even management positions ... these are the grunt work people who you need to get the job done. The W04 is being unveiled in a few weeks. Unless most or all those Aero positions are for the W05 ( and I highly doubt it) The fact that SO MANY aero positions are presently open is concerning .. and yes filling them now is a tad late. (Yes I am aware of better late than never).

These are not unreasonable concerns.. Mercedes is not known for good aero development and the recruitment drive to fix this really does appear to be late. Especially if well qualified personnel are hard to find.

Hence the comments made above.

Its funny you came to that conclusion. You should know(though I doubt that), that there in fact are two teams working in the design department. We know Willis is heading the W05 project. So you seriously think that they are so dumb that they are trying to fill jobs for the W04 project - which is all but finished - and are hiring people with a Jan 31 application deadline? They have said - MS has said that too quite recently - several times that they have a strong structure in place now, and have no restraints whatsoever to keep them from developing in-season. It does not seem to dawn on you that if they have a W05 design in the making, fro which we know they have a separate team, which is not interfering in/with the design and development process of the W04, that they will actually expand that team with extra aero workforce for scale-model production, windtunnel analysis and work, because by mid-season this year, they will actually have to be testing the W05, on which they are working since early last year. Those are exactly the jobs on opening. Its NOT a fix. Its further expansion. Hence my morning comment "nice". this all relates well to the discussion about the 'budget' dummies. This seems to be a pretty committed team to me. Brawn written all over it. Ferrari are in recruitment in similar way, too, by the way. For the exact same reasons and objective. bah...

I have followed and supported this team from Brawn Gp.. your assumption of me not knowing about the two design teams is way off the mark.
However, since inception Mercdes gp has not demonstrated a capability for top rate development especially in terms of aero. I therefore do not think it unreasonable to have doubts remain regardless of what Ross or anyone for that matter says.

My days of looking at this team with the glass half full ended last season. Ive had way too many excuses levied for poor performance in numerous aspects including development.

if you want to think that these aero postings are exclusively for the remit of the w05 you are entitled to think so. But until I see a complete season of sustained development on the present car I will remain concerned.

I have followed and supported this team from Brawn Gp.. your assumption of me not knowing about the two design teams is way off the mark.However, since inception Mercdes gp has not demonstrated a capability for top rate development especially in terms of aero. I therefore do not think it unreasonable to have doubts remain regardless of what Ross or anyone for that matter says.

My days of looking at this team with the glass half full ended last season. Ive had way too many excuses levied for poor performance in numerous aspects including development.

if you want to think that these aero postings are exclusively for the remit of the w05 you are entitled to think so. But until I see a complete season of sustained development on the present car I will remain concerned.

not much more to add there.

i agree with you that the team has made it's fans pessimistic, but hiring that amount of workforce for the current W04 project would speak of desperation - a situation i don't think they're in. therefore i believe it's a lot more likely that this staff will be used for the W05 project.

It could be a new planned phase of hiring for the aero department.
Quite possible that extra funds only became available with the start of the new financial year. Not uncommon in many companies.

Any extra staff is good for both in-season W04 devlopment as well as W05 development. It simply means more capacity in the aero department so they can have appropriate resources working on both projects simultaneously.

Late for them to have impact on the Start of 2013 season. It will take time for them to be indoctrinated on team's policies and procedures, and then develop some projects to which they can stamp their signature as their own. I thought that you would have known that, but maybe I am giving you too much credit. Possibility also exist, and should not be disregarded, that they might be allocated to developments on 2014 model, thus taking some off-load of the 2013 team.

How about maybe it's as simple as they just want to grow the staff, so maybe a grunt could take a sick day.... It's always better to have more staff than needed, as it creates a buffer for the unforeseen.

I have followed and supported this team from Brawn Gp.. your assumption of me not knowing about the two design teams is way off the mark.However, since inception Mercdes gp has not demonstrated a capability for top rate development especially in terms of aero. I therefore do not think it unreasonable to have doubts remain regardless of what Ross or anyone for that matter says.

My days of looking at this team with the glass half full ended last season. Ive had way too many excuses levied for poor performance in numerous aspects including development.

if you want to think that these aero postings are exclusively for the remit of the w05 you are entitled to think so. But until I see a complete season of sustained development on the present car I will remain concerned.

I understand you are butthurt because of MS, and the past three seasons. But in that same interview PF said they might have gone for the Merc-type DDRS if they would not have had other priorities with their car development. So the answer to your question is yes.

Toto Wolff likes PR stints. Together with Lauda they will be PR heavy.

(Wolff /30%/ and Lauda /10%/ is about to take stakes in MGP. The Haug - Brawn era is definitely over. I guess Brawn is also on the way to leave the team. )

Reasonable. Not so sure about Brawn though, but I'll hold further judgement of my own on this until things unfold. I can't really see clearly as to what they are achieving with this. Change is certainly happening.

They could make it a contest! Each designer makes his own car, then Merc builds one of each, tests them and the fastest gets the nod!

That's how the top aerospace companies do it. planes like the F-22 Raptor and the like come to fruition after internal competitions. The company forms multiple internal design teams, and after a certain point the company takes the best bits of each design and incorporates them into the 'final' design!

Look kid, I don't know who you are, nor do I care, but lay off the dumb smart aleck replies. It was relevant to the discussion. If you can't realize that there's no reason to comment.

It was a response to the person who said something along the lines of making gains but pointing to the DDRS as one of them that didn't work. He admitted he made a mistake chasing something that wasn't going to gain them the time they wanted. You learn from your mistakes. Well, at least some of us do. Not sure you will with your useless replies.

That's how the top aerospace companies do it. planes like the F-22 Raptor and the like come to fruition after internal competitions. The company forms multiple internal design teams, and after a certain point the company takes the best bits of each design and incorporates them into the 'final' design!

Yes but they have 20 year timescales, vast budgets and nice fat government contracts. a LITTLE different to a car built in 6 months to be used for 9.

How many designers does that team need to make a proper car ? I mean Lowe is like the 6th or 7th star designer they hire...

My guess is that they are conceptualizing actually several cars. W04 and then variants of W05. You have body, chassis, and powertrain, thus there is a lot of work all around. More of concern is potential clash of individual egos.

Other than that I don't understand this ''too many designers'' argument.

Every team has a Team Principal - Brawn
Every team has a Technical Director who's responsibility is more on a higher strategic level rather than overseeing day-to-day design.
I'm sure all leading teams have a Head of Simulation responsible for the technologies used for smulation (WindTunnel, Simulator, CFD etc.) - Geoff Willis
All teams have a Chief Designer role leading the design project of car - Aldo Costa for the W04
All teams have a Head of aero responsible for the shape of the car -Elliott.

The fact that some of these guys had TD roles at other teams is not relevant as their role is different now.
Unless they let their egos get in the way, which would mean they're not doing the job according to their task description.